• オペラ座の怪人 (Phantom of the Opera)

7/22/17 (Sat), Yokohama

I hadn’t seen the stage version of Phantom since Las Vegas in 2007 (and before that in NY in 1997 – there’s a pattern there). This was the first time to catch the massively successful Japanese version. I was invited by a friend who’s seen the show, by his estimate, around 120 times (!!) and had secured extra tickets for this sold-out-as-usual run. The Shiki Theatre Company, the keeper of the Japanese version, has multiple casts in the main roles and, to prevent a bias in sales toward the more popular performers, doesn’t announce which cast is appearing until a week in advance, way too late to score tickets. Pretty slimy. (Shiki’s uncomplaining fans, like my friend, simply buy tickets for multiple performances in hopes of landing their preferred actor/actress.) Unfortunately for my friend, the phantom this time was his fourth choice among the five playing the role. But the rest of us were happy just to be there. 

The show remains monumental in scale even with the adjustments in the set in this theater, such as the missing underground scene and a less dramatic chandelier drop, which first-timers would hardly miss. This is my favorite of the overblown 1980s spectacles since the operetta-like style fits so well with the Paris Opera setting and the operatic storyline. The Japanese translation, efficient for the most part, is also a plus since we don’t have to suffer through the English lyrics. (I learned just recently that the standout lyrics for “Masquerade” were largely written by Alan Jay Lerner, which finally makes sense. UPDATE: It turns out that Lerner did not in fact write those lyrics. So kudos to the show’s lyricist Charles Hart for that song.)

A minor irritant was the sudden bursts of English in the otherwise Japanese text, like “angel of music” and “phantom of the Opera”, rather than their Japanese equivalents. It made the entire speech sound artificial. Most notably, Raul and the phantom both confess their love to Christine using the English phrase “I love you.” It’s true that the phrase doesn’t have an exact equivalent in Japanese since people rarely express their emotions so frankly either on or off stage. (I don’t think the word ai – “love” – is mentioned once in 400 years of Kabuki, nor is it even a verb; the phrase ai shite iru is a literal translation that sounds something like “I devotion you.”) The impression is that the actors are just reciting lines rather than believing them. At the very least, given the French setting, I would have thought they could have said “Je t’aime.” In any case, the Japanese in general was more a translation than a heartfelt rendering.

Masayuki Sano was a disappointment as the phantom. He was not vocally up for the role, especially in the more dramatic moments. That was surprising given the quality control usually associated with this show. On the other hand, the show had an outstanding Christine in Sae Yamamoto, evidently a newcomer to the role, who was a wonderful singer and a moving actress. She was the most natural performer on stage and a big asset to the show. Aya Kawamura was also strong as Carlotta. Others were good enough.

None of that will matter to the rabid fans of Shiki shows, which also include the Japanese-language versions of all of Disney’s stage musicals (The Lion King, etc), Lloyd Webber’s shows (Cats, Evita, etc), and classics like A Chorus Line and West Side Story, in addition to several Japanese originals. Shiki has been spectacularly successful, creating a brand name that on its own has a fanatically loyal following in Japan rivaled only by Disney. In an unguarded moment, Asari Keita, the group’s founder and president, has himself questioned the obsessive repeated visits by Shiki fans to the same show (a comment he quickly retracted). Still, I can’t imagine he really objects. While Shiki is on shakier ground with dialogue- or character-driven shows, these through-sung spectacles are right up its alley, and Phantom is as physically impressive and faithfully rendered as any. Japanese audiences get their money’s worth.